McCombs MBA - Class Profile, Salary & Curriculum

McComb’s 2-year full-time MBA is an ideal platform for career switchers to earn a fast-track career in Finance, Technology and Consulting. With one of the highest intakes of candidates from non-profit and government, the program has fine-tuned its curriculum to accommodate the demands of socially conscious leaders eager to merge profitability with sustainability. The strengths in Analytics, Accounting, and Information Systems separate McCombs MBA from the traditional consulting, finance, and technology orientation seen in other top MBA programs.

In this in-depth analysis of McCombs 2-Year Full-time MBA program, we cover:

• McCombs 2-Year Full-time MBA Class Profile
• McCombs Full-time MBA Fee
• McCombs Full-time MBA Scholarships and Financial Aid
• McCombs Full-time MBA Application Process
• McCombs Full-time MBA Curriculum
• Leadership Development at McCombs MBA
• Experiential learning at McCombs Full-time MBA
• Social IMPACT at McCombs Full-time MBA
• McCombs Dual Degree Program
• McCombs Full-time MBA - Salary by Industry (2021)
• McCombs Full-time MBA - Salary by Function (2021)
• Employment for International Students

McCombs 2-Year Full-time MBA Class Profile

McComb’s 2-year full-time MBA class intake is among the smallest at 241 students, nearly a quarter of Harvard’s class size. The proportion of international students hit an all-time low at 10% compared to 35% seen at Ivy League schools, while women’s representation also faced a decline at 34% compared to the 39% to 44% seen at top US B-schools.

Underrepresented minority’s representation was at 18%, and no stats on LGBTQ+ was published. The school is ideal for older applicants as the program has a history of accepting career switchers interested in Finance and from Military backgrounds. The average age of 29 reflects this trend. The GMAT and GPA requirements are well within the range of top US MBA programs of 650 to 730 and 3.40 to 3.70, respectively.

Pre-MBA Education

Graduates enrolled in McComb’s MBA program primarily come from a Business/Economics and STEM background, seeking to upskill and possibly change career paths into finance. Other undergraduate degrees correspond to 21% of the class intake. Humanities and Social Sciences are in the minority, represented by 17% of the class.

Pre-MBA Industry

Other professions collectively made 39%, the breakdown of which isn’t provided but highlights the diversity within professional backgrounds amalgamating at McCombs. Government and experienced non-profit professionals made up most of the class, at 16%. McCombs also intakes a larger percentage of students with a background in the energy industry, an industry that is marginally represented by other institutions. Consulting and Finance collectively only correspond to less than a fourth of the entire class, whereas these professions usually dominate the incoming class profile of the topmost MBA programs.

McCombs Full-time MBA Fee

McComb’s tuition fees are approximately $20,000 to $30,000 lower than that of NYU Stern, Harvard, or MIT. Texas residents pay a smaller fee of $52,550 as compared to non-residents/international students, who pay $58,270. To secure their place, students need to pay a deposit of $2,000 once admission is offered that contributes towards tuition fees upon enrolment.  Housing costs amount to $15,392, transportation costs $1,542, books/supplies cost $1,034 and personal/miscellaneous expenses cost $4,086. The total cost amounts to $80,304 for non-residents/international students and $74,604 for residents. Additional costs of health insurance, international student services fees and one-time costs like an initial investment in a laptop ($2,500) and fees ($1,000) are required to be accounted for. These additional costs can be appealed to be included in the cost of attendance when financial aid is needed.

McCombs Full-time MBA Scholarships and Financial Aid

Scholarships and Fellowships

McCombs has a limited range of MBA scholarships and financial aid, ranging from $2,000 cash awards to full out-of-state tuition waivers. Those who apply for the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management (US citizens and permanent residents only), the Forte Foundation, Reaching Out MBA, and Teach for America are considered for a McCombs scholarship in addition to their fellow’s benefits.

Current MBA students are also eligible for more than $100,000 through scholarships based on merit and need. Applications for these open in March every year.

Students can also seek external scholarships from portals such as Juno’s MBA scholarships, Fastweb, and Sallie Mae.

Loans

Permanent US citizens need to submit their eligibility to apply for federal loans by completing FAFSA forms, available from October to mid-March of the following year.  International students are required to use their own discretion when searching for student loans, and within the US require a co-signer for possibly more favorable terms.

Teaching and Research Assistantships

Students need to consult the relevant department for their teaching and research assistantship positions.  MBA students cannot take on teaching or research assistantships for more than 15 hours per week and do not gain an in-state tuition waiver by virtue of an assistantship.  

McCombs Full-time MBA Application Process

McCombs application deadlines are in October, January, and March each year. The McCombs application process requires the following official documents:
-    GMAT or GRE test scores
-    Transcripts of previous academic qualifications
-    Minimum 2-years of post-bachelor’s experience (not internships)
-    Essays: 750 words or 500 words with a 1-minute video introduction
-    One Letter of recommendation
-    $200 Application fee

The first essay does not have a prompt or theme. It asks to narrate the applicant’s journey beyond the information captured in the resume and letters of recommendation. The format for the first essay is either a written 250-word essay or a 1-minute video introduction. The applicant should focus on communicating instances that have strongly shaped their personality.

To make the essay engaging, it is necessary to adopt a story-telling format and include characters that have influenced and molded the applicant’s choices. Discussing transitions or growth from one event to the next, preferably tackling a personal challenge, is the best framework to answer this question.

The video format allows for relevant images that weave into the applicants’ story and will be considered as deliverables on their presentation/communication skills. Caution needs to be taken while editing to ensure that the video remains as authentic as possible.

The second 500-word essay question asks how applicants envision Texas McCombs MBA to achieve their professional and personal goals. Networking with Alumni and current students will help applicants find the uniqueness of the program and map them to tools for achieving post-MBA goals. The tone of the essay should be reflective.

The optional 250-word essay needs to address academic weaknesses, gaps in employment, or unusual recommenders. Applicants should take advantage of this opportunity to offer explanations or corrective steps that address the issues. Adopting a straightforward and fact-focused explanation and precautionary steps taken to prevent circumstances from reoccurring during the course should be detailed.

McCombs Full-time MBA Curriculum

McCombs’ 70% choice-intensive curriculum is illustrated in the first year itself as students have the choice of coursework in 14 of 30 credit hours. Additionally, there are 7 themes covering 23 concentrations for students to choose from, some of which lead to a STEM certification. Finance offers the largest number of courses, but accounting and marketing is McCombs specialty.

Core Modules

Most of the first-year core courses are designed to cover the various functions within a business – accounting, marketing, finance, strategy, and operations. Also included are microeconomics and statistics to provide the foundational knowledge for making data-driven decisions.

The absence of macroeconomics and management accounting from the core curriculum points to the notion that McCombs, at its core, prepares MBAs from the perspective of a business. This approach contrasts with leading US MBA programs that offer the top-down approach.

McCombs is the only institution to have a dedicated strategic career planning module. Other universities offer career resources and interview practice as add-ons to the MBA experience, relying highly on student initiatives. McCombs’ structured approach makes students introspect and self-assess while simultaneously planning their career goals, building their personal brand, and developing networking strategies.

Concentrations

Accounting

McCombs’ premier accounting department topped the US News rankings in 2021. The two concentrations offered within accounting are Accounting for Investment Banking and Corporate Accounting.

Students who choose the Accounting for Investment Banking Pathway also manage the MBA Investment Funds for hands-on experience. Corporate Accounting offers a specialized course in Petroleum Accounting that is unique to McCombs.

Business and Government

The Business and Government theme is usually a core or elective module in other MBA programs. However, McCombs covers - public policy, regulation, ethics, law, the relationship between business and government, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability under two concentrations – Ethics & CSR and Public & Governmental Affairs.

Finance

McCombs divides the Finance Concentration into five specializations: Finance (General), Corporate Finance, Energy Finance, Investment Management, Real Estate Finance, and Private Equity. The Corporate Finance role in Energy Firms and Energy Financing covers Risk management & Petroleum Accounting, catering to the energy candidates switching from technical to management roles.

Interdisciplinary

McCombs offers 5 interdisciplinary concentrations – Cleantech, Entrepreneurship, Global Business, Healthcare, and Social Enterprise.

Each concentration balances functional skill development with industry knowledge. The Cleantech concentration has taken a step further by introducing Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing/Operations tracks within the context of Cleantech.

The rest of the interdisciplinary concentrations has the traditional building blocks with unique courses brought into the mix. The Social Enterprise concentration offers an exhaustive array of courses covering Law, Ethics, Politics, Corporate Governance, Behavioral Economics, Managing Complexity, and Public Policy, helping the 16% of government and social enterprises to develop targeted skillset if they choose to persist in the specialization.

Management

Management is the only concentration to feature leadership courses. Strategy & Innovation offers a foundational understanding of strategic thinking and leading change with innovation. The leadership courses cover broad context from managing a crisis to complexity to specific functions, including Marketing, Entrepreneurship, to general management skills in leading people and managing talent.

Marketing

The marketing concentration is designed to target three specific functions of contemporary businesses – brand & product management, high tech marketing, and marketing & consulting. Analytics is heavily integrated as an essential building block in the three specializations. The concentration uses a traditional approach by including mastery of Data Mining and Analytics Tools into the learning goals.

Operations & Analytics

McCombs’ Information, Risk, and Operations Management department is among the best in the US, ranking top 5 in the US News Rankings for the year. Business Analytics is in 4th place and Information Management in 5th. The three specializations are STEM-certified, offering a great avenue for international MBA candidates to continue in the US for the next 2-years. More importantly, the concentration neatly incorporates data modeling, integrating tools, and decision making with analytics into the workflow while also building practical knowledge of the framework in Supply Chain and Operations Management.

Leadership Development at McCombs MBA

The McCombs MBA begins by creating a Leadership Development Plan for each student. Leaders at McCombs are trained using curricular and co-curricular components that are then processed and condensed into a capstone project, addressing employers' leadership and communication expectations.

Moral Leadership in Economics is an MBA elective to foster empathy, meaning, and connection through leadership within the enterprise framework. The management concentrations heavily incorporate leadership and negotiation skills. Managing Human Capital: People Analytics is a custom core course offered at McCombs, covering the strategic foundations of finding, nurturing, and retaining talent in a leadership capacity.

Experiential learning at McCombs Full-time MBA

In the curriculum, eight practicums offer experiential learning within the concentrations – management sustainability, real estate, energy finance, venture and venture creation labs, operations, entrepreneurship, healthcare, and innovation. Additionally, Texas McCombs Labs and Global Learning program, in partnership with leading US Technology companies, are the other avenues to build hands-on learning at McCombs.

Texas McCombs Labs

Dell (Supply Chain & Marketing), Vital Farms (Marketing), and Silicon Labs (Marketing) offer mentorship with the Texas McCombs labs. Only 1 or a maximum of 2 students are invited for each project where candidates must apply their skills in analytics and data modeling, developing commercialization strategies, financial and operational feasibility studies of innovation projects, leading virtually, and demonstrating agility cross-functionally.

Global learning

McCombs MBA global and experiential learning program sponsor budgeted micro-consulting projects with a duration of 8 to 10 weeks under the guidance of a project manager. During the project, teams of 4 to 6 students will be working with Dell, HP, SAP America, and other McCombs MBA+ corporate partners.

Social IMPACT at McCombs Full-time MBA

McCombs attracts a large percentage of non-profits and government (16%) candidates. Those who want to continue in non-profit or Social IMPACT, or career switchers interested in applying their functional skills in sustainability or social-impact space should leverage their skills through internship funds, competitions, and fellowships.

Social IMPACT Internship Fund (SIIF)

Social Impact Internship Fund (SIIF) supports the goals of candidates entering non-profit or companies with predominant sustainability goals. MBA peer students offer support by pledging a “day of pay” from their internship to support SIIF candidates.

Texas Sustainability Innovation Challenge (TSIC)

The competition encourages entrepreneurs to generate sustainable, world-changing startups. In partnership with Bumble, TSIC is the largest cross-campus social entrepreneurship pitch competition. $10,000+ will be available at the UT-Austin competition, and another $50,000 will be available to the TSIC winners through the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge.

IMPACT Investing

MBA Impact Investing Network and Training (MIINT) introduces students to hands-on experiential learning in impact investing. The McCombs MBA MIINT team won the global 2020 MIINT competition, where 30+ top business schools from across the world pitched their thesis.

The Longhorn Impact Fellowship (LIFT)

LIFT, with the goal of building socially conscious leaders, facilitates team building by bringing students (fellows) to non-profits and socially conscious enterprises. The 12-week project covers broader themes in ESG and Corporate Social responsibility with solutions that cover strategies, market research, tools and processes, and funding opportunities.

McCombs Dual Degree Program

McCombs offers 12 dual MBA programs in non-traditional subjects (unlike US MBA programs that focus on law, medicine, and engineering), at par with Oxford’s Said Business School.  One-third of the dual degree programs are concentrated in regional studies and public affairs. It provides the foundations for those with previous government experience to specialize in a particular market, so when they return to the workforce after their MBA, they can utilize the expertise in government roles, the social sector, or transition into consulting.

• MBA / MA in Asian Studies
• MBA / MA in Russian, Eastern European & Eurasian Studies
• MSSW/MBA in Social Work
• MBA / MA in Public Affairs
• MBA / Master of Science in Nursing
• MBA / MA Middle Eastern Studies
• MBA / MA Mechanical Engineering
• MBA / MA Latin Studies
• MBA / MA Global Policy
• MBA / MA Energy Resources
• MBA / Doctor of Jurisprudence (Law)
• MBA / MA Communication

McCombs Full-time MBA - Salary by Industry (2021)

Technology dominated with 32% of graduates hired in the industry. Employers - Amazon and Dell, with consulting firms BCG, Deloitte, and PwC, hired more than 10 McCombs MBAs each. The highest median base salary comes from consulting and financial services, both crossing the $150,000 threshold that is a marker for a tier-1 program in 2022.  

Texas ranks highest among states in the energy sector in terms of employment and total energy production. However, with the lowest median base salary of the top industries chosen by graduates. Energy firms also contribute disproportionately to GDP relative to total employment, underlining the importance of this industry to the Texan economy.

McCombs Full-time MBA - Salary by Function (2021)

McCombs’ MBA is attractive for those considering consulting (25.7% of employment intakes) and investment banking (9.8%), offering the highest median base salaries - $160,000 and $150,000, respectively.  Product Management, although is below the top two functions, attracted a respectable $132,000 base and close to 9% of the class. Marketing and Sales functions together attracted close to 19% when you consider Product Management as a Marketing function, too, with median base salaries ranging from $132,000 in product management to $116,500 in Demand Generation Marketing & Business Development.

Internship Opportunity (2021)

The largest percentage of graduates, 25.4%, secured consulting internships. Within finance functions, the highest number of students opted for investment banking internships (8.5%), followed by venture capital/private equity (6.8%) and corporate finance (6.4%). Investment banking interns secured the largest monthly salaries of $12,158, whereas those that chose real estate finance secured only $5,773, less than half within the finance function. 3% of Texas McCombs students accepted internships outside the US with a monthly salary of $3,500 in China, Mexico, South Africa, and the UAE.

Employment for International Students

96.7% of all graduates were hired within the US. However, this comes as no surprise due to the 10% of the international class intake. Finance, marketing, supply chain, and analytics concentrations are STEM qualified, which should seem lucrative to international students. However, as the pandemic ends, the international student representation could rise back to pre-pandemic levels of 24% (still relatively lower compared to the average representation of international students in top US MBA programs).

Nearly 61% of graduates were hired in Texas, securing the second-highest median base salary of $130,000, whereas those who accepted jobs in the northeast (5.6%) secured a median base salary of 150,000. US citizens secured median salaries that were higher by $10,000 at $130,000 than their international peers. The median signing bonus was double at $30,000 for US citizens as compared to their international peers. 3% of all employment was based outside the US, in Chile, China, India, Mexico, and Peru, with a median base salary of $80,000.

Reference

McCombs Full-time MBA